


Warmer Than Home

by oceansgrey



Category: Naruto
Genre: Alternate Universe - Everyone Lives/Nobody Dies
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-01
Updated: 2019-10-01
Packaged: 2020-11-08 15:56:26
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,891
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20838158
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/oceansgrey/pseuds/oceansgrey
Summary: A morning in a world where Zabuza and Haku didn't die in Wave, but instead survived and went to Konoha instead.





	Warmer Than Home

**Author's Note:**

> I was thinking about how if Zabuza lived, I have a feeling he and Kakashi would get along pretty well and bond over being teachers with students who they totally pretend to be annoyed by but care for immensely.  
So I wrote this. Enjoy!

“A hundred ryo you don’t try to kill the kids today,” Kakashi teased, snapping his dirty book shut before tucking it into his pack.

“Two hundred you don’t try to pawn them off on me like you did last week,” Zabuza retorted, Konoha’s training ground three coming into view as they passed through the gate. “I’m not Gai. I’m not gonna babysit so you can run off and take a nap,”

“Ma, you know me too well,” Kakashi said, his gaze going to the kids by the water. “Good. They’re all here,”

Of course they were all there, Zabuza fought the urge to roll his eyes and say. He knew his student better than anyone, and knowing Kakashi’s kids, Haku probably had to wrangle them all in for early morning training.

Kakashi had to drag him out of bed this morning, so it made them even, he supposed.

The Executioner’s Blade rested heavy against his back, the cool morning spring breeze causing a shiver to run down his spine. The coolness made him painfully aware of the fact that he had gone out of the house without a shirt, just the borrowed Konoha jonin vest he had, and while something like that would never had bothered him a few months ago, it somewhat did now.

In the light of the early morning sun, he could see the scars that now littered his body, deep gouges now healed over a fleshy pink, contrasting greatly to the olive complexion of his skin. He had been in so much phantom pain that morning that it had taken Kakashi threatening to give him a piggyback ride to the training ground that had forced him out of bed lest he forsake his reputation and embarrass himself in front of his apprentice.

The stiffness in his back made him greatly regret not taking Kakashi up on that offer, but he knew that stretching and sparring would help make him forget the pain that lingered.

“Good morning, Zabuza-sama,” Haku looked up at him, giving him a small smile.

“Morning, kid,”

Hearing that voice had made it all worth it. Haku living, breathing and smiling at him every day was worth surrendering to Konoha, turning his back temporarily to his goal of overthrowing the Mizukage. Becoming a temporary citizen and shinobi for Konoha on Kakashi’s avouchment wasn’t how he envisioned life after dealing with Gato, but then again, he hadn’t expected to survive, either.

Things were fuzzy when he thought on it. He remembered Haku lying on the ground, he had assumed he had died, his heart breaking once he saw the glow of Kakashi’s Chidori, the horrid noise it made, blood all over the ground. He thought he had died, too, getting the chance to say his goodbye to Haku before blacking out.

Then, he woke up in a hospital room in Konoha and nearly decked the nurse trying to check his vitals and according to Kakashi, he had to be sedated with some of the heaviest drugs the hospital had to offer just to calm him down and prevent him from killing some of the staff.

Kakashi had also lovingly stopped by with his brats the day after he woke up, Naruto all but throwing himself onto Zabuza’s stomach to cry about how glad he was that they had lived. Kakashi’s little kunoichi, Zabuza’s personal favorite of his gaggle of kids, had brought a fruit basket and he didn’t have the heart to tell her that he hated fruit basket gifts. The surviving Uchiha kid had just glared at him, arms and cheek still bandaged from his fight with Haku.

Zabuza definitely did _not_ cry when he saw Haku once he was healed enough to go check on his apprentice, no matter how much he reiterated that he was not the emotional type whenever Haku brought it up.

Life in Konoha wasn’t so terrible, he reasoned. Kakashi was actually a decent guy once he got to know him, and his jonin friends he had been introduced to had given him nothing short of a warm welcome. He wasn’t too keen on Kakashi’s husband constantly barraging him for a fight, but Gai was still overly friendly regardless of Zabuza’s gruff personality. 

“Hey, Zabuza!” Naruto grabbed his arm, tugging on it. “Can you teach me a jutsu today? Haku won’t teach me any of them!”

“No can do, brat,” Zabuza said, looking down at Naruto’s unnaturally bright face. “Today, we’re doing the bell test,”

“Again?” Sasuke scoffed. “We already did that,”

“You did it with just me,” Kakashi said, holding up three bells. “Now, you have to try to grab them from either of us. Since there’s four of you, we have three bells between the two of us. Loser gets to run laps around the village with Gai,”

“Manage to get the two off of me and your teacher has to pay for our lunches and you get off the hook for laps with Gai,” Zabuza said, snatching two bells and setting them at his waist.

“Really?” Naruto asked, wide-eyed. “Kakashi-sensei will buy lunch? And we don’t have to run around with Bushier Brow-sensei?”

“That’s right,” Kakashi said. “I’ll pay for lunch if you can succeed,”

“He doesn’t even pay for his own food,” Sakura mumbled to Sasuke, who fought the urge to snort at her remark.

“Don’t disappoint me,” Zabuza said.

“I would never,” Haku smiled sweetly, the smile he always gave when he was being smug.

Zabuza let him for the time being, determined to make Haku struggle to catch him.

“Alright… start!” Kakashi shouted, jumping back in a blur of motion as a thick mist filled the training ground, visibility nonexistent.

Zabuza didn’t bother hiding, knowing that if the kids tried to come for him, he could easily defend against them. Naruto was improving exponentially with just a bit extra training from him, and it made him proud to know that Naruto had decided on his nindo after their fight in Wave.

While Naruto was doing incredibly well, he also was incredibly predictable and would probably charge right at him. Sasuke would probably follow, being able to see through the mist with his Sharingan, but with the two of them, he could fend them off with ease without having to use the Executioner’s Blade. They worked in tandem well, and Zabuza knew that in a few short years, Sasuke and Naruto would be a deadly duo to be reckoned with, but for now they were still just Kakashi’s brats.

Sakura and Haku, on the other hand, were the most likely to give him the most trouble. Sakura had been learning a bit of genjutsu from Kakashi’s friend Kurenai, and it would be bad if he got trapped in one, especially by a genin. Haku would tease him relentlessly for that if he allowed it to happen. She also had taken up taijutsu with Gai, and had a serious left hook, one he could see rivalling the legendary Sannin’s Tsunade Senju one day. Haku would be the most trouble to him since he already knew all of Zabuza’s moves and techniques, as well as his weak spots. Zabuza somewhat regretted how strong Haku was solely for the fact that in a situation like this, he was the weaker of the two.

Something sharp whirled past his head, feeling something graze the lobe of his ear and embedding into the tree behind him.

“Nice one,” he commented, looking to his left to the senbon needle sticking out of the bark. “Didn’t hit the nerve,”

“I wasn’t aiming for that,” Haku quipped. “That was just to draw your attention,”

Zabuza almost didn’t see the small clenched fist aimed for his chest, Sakura coming at him with everything she had. He easily dodged her punches, not too keen on getting a rib broken this early in the morning.

He laughed as he dodged her punches, Sakura not tall enough yet to even reach for his face. She was getting good, he noted, her punches more certain and landing more solid.

He wasn’t laughing when he suddenly felt a chill down his back, Haku’s ice mirror appearing behind him as the two reached for the bells at the same time.

They had been at this for hours, and it was nearing lunchtime with no progress. 

“I’ll get those bells if it’s the last thing I do, ya know!” Naruto shouted, lunging forward at Kakashi as he was blocking a punch by Sasuke.

“Naruto, how many times do I have to tell you?” Kakashi sighed, a hand out on Naruto’s forehead, holding him back as his other hand blocked Sasuke’s punches and kicks. “Both of you still lack communication, and-”

The mist dissipated. Sasuke stopped his attack to land on his feet while Naruto stopped flailing, two sets of eyes scanning past Kakashi to the three heading towards them.

“Game over already?” Kakashi shook his head.

“Yeah,” Zabuza trudged back, Haku and Sakura in tow.

“Look what I got!” Sakura said, holding up a bell as she skipped over to the boys.

“What? No way!” Naruto said.

“Figured as much,” Sasuke shrugged. “Good work,”

“Looks like you owe us lunch, Hatake,” Zabuza said, giving him a smirk.

“Ma, I never promised,” he tried to back out.

“I want ramen!” Naruto grabbed Kakashi’s arm, jumping up and down at the prospect of food. “Let’s go to Ichiraku!”

“Alright, alright,” Kakashi sighed in defeat, taking off back in the direction of Konoha with his kids in tow.

It was just Haku and Zabuza on the training ground, a comfortable silence between them.

Haku took a step forward to head after Team Seven, stopping once he felt a warm hand on his shoulder.

“Good job, going for my blind spot,” Zabuza said, giving him the faintest hint of a smile.

“I just know your tactics better than you do. You could say that the student has definitely surpassed the master,” Haku smiled back, and Zabuza rolled his eyes before wrapping arm around his shoulder and tugging him close.

“C’mon, brat. Let’s get going,”

Konoha felt warm and friendly in the sense where Kiri was cold and harsh.

Zabuza saw it in the way Naruto was animatedly explaining a mission story to Haku, Sasuke arguing the finer details. He saw it in the way Sakura warily looked at the scars on his arms, a sad frown on her face as if she wanted to heal them. He saw it in the way Kakashi looked at Haku, relieved that he hadn’t killed him.

“Zabuza!” Naruto shouted across the noodle bar at him, mouth full of food. “Show us that kunai trick!”

“Kunai trick?” Haku raised an eyebrow, eyes darting to his teacher.

“I wanna see!” Sakura said.

“Probably not that special…” Sasuke mumbled, but his gaze didn’t drop.

He felt uncomfortable, all sets of eyes on him.

Kakashi clapped him on the back lightly.

“I learned that the best thing to do is just do what Naruto asks, or else he’ll bother you for the next few hours nonstop,” he said, and Zabuza could see a flash of a smile beneath his mask. “Show ’em,” 

It felt different, but not terrible.

Reaching into his pouch for a spare kunai, he couldn’t help the grin that spread across his face.

“Alright, which one do you wanna see?”

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you so much for reading! :)


End file.
